MIT Technology Reviews Whats Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of themhere. While nuclear reactors have been generating power around the world for over 70 years, the current moment is one of potentially radical transformation for the technology. As electricity demand rises around the world for everything from electric vehicles to data centers, theres renewed interest in building new nuclear capacity, as well as extending the lifetime of existing plants and even reopening facilities that have been shut down. Efforts are also growing to rethink reactor designs, and 2025 marks a major test for so-called advanced reactors as they begin to move from ideas on paper into the construction phase. Thats significant because nuclear power promises a steady source of electricity as climate change pushes global temperatures to new heights and energy demand surges around the world. Heres what to expect next for the industry. A global patchwork The past two years have seen a new commitment to nuclear power around the globe, including an agreement at the UN climate talks that 31 countries pledged to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050. However, the prospects for the nuclear industry differ depending on where you look. The US is currently home to the highest number of operational nuclear reactors in the world. If its specific capacity were to triple, that would mean adding a somewhat staggering 200 gigawatts of new nuclear energy capacity to the current total of roughly 100 gigawatts. And thats in addition to replacing any expected retirements from a relatively old fleet. But the country has come to something of a stall. A new reactor at the Vogtle plant in Georgia came online last year (following significant delays and cost overruns), but there are no major conventional reactors under construction or in review by regulators in the US now. This year also brings an uncertain atmosphere for nuclear power in the US as the incoming Trump administration takes office. While the technology tends to have wide political support, its possible that policies like tariffs could affect the industry by increasing the cost of building materials like steel, says Jessica Lovering, cofounder at the Good Energy Collective, a policy research organization that advocates for the use of nuclear energy. Globally, most reactors under construction or in planning phases are in Asia, and growth in China is particularly impressive. The countrys first nuclear power plant connected to the grid in 1991, and in just a few decades it has built the third-largest fleet in the world, after only France and the US. China has four large reactors likely to come online this year, and another handful are scheduled for commissioning in 2026. This year will see both Bangladesh and Turkey start up their first nuclear reactors. Egypt also has its first nuclear plant under construction, though its not expected to undergo commissioning for several years. Advancing along Commercial nuclear reactors on the grid today, and most of those currently under construction, generally follow a similar blueprint: The fuel that powers the reactor is low-enriched uranium, and water is used as a coolant to control the temperature inside. But newer, advanced reactors are inching closer to commercial use. A wide range of these so-called Generation IV reactors are in development around the world, all deviating from the current blueprint in one way or another in an attempt to improve safety, efficiency, or both. Some use molten salt or a metal like lead as a coolant, while others use a more enriched version of uranium as a fuel. Often, theres a mix-and-match approach with variations on the fuel type and cooling methods. The next couple of years will be crucial for advanced nuclear technology as proposals and designs move toward the building process. Were watching paper reactors turn into real reactors, says Patrick White, research director at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit think tank. Much of the funding and industrial activity in advanced reactors is centered in the US, where several companies are close to demonstrating their technology. Kairos Power is building reactors cooled by molten salt, specifically a fluorine-containing material called Flibe. The company received a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its first demonstration reactor in late 2023, and a second permit for another plant in late 2024. Construction will take place on both facilities over the next few years, and the plan is to complete the first demonstration facility in 2027. TerraPower is another US-based company working on Gen IV reactors, though the design for its Natrium reactor uses liquid sodium as a coolant. The company is taking a slightly different approach to construction, too: by separating the nuclear and non-nuclear portions of the facility, it was able to break ground on part of its site in June of 2024. Its still waiting for construction approval from the NRC to begin work on the nuclear side, which the company expects to do by 2026. A US Department of Defense project could be the first in-progress Gen IV reactor to generate electricity, though itll be at a very small scale. Project Pele is a transportable microreactor being manufactured by BWXT Advanced Technologies. Assembly is set to begin early this year, with transportation to the final site at Idaho National Lab expected in 2026. Advanced reactors certainly arent limited to the US. Even as China is quickly building conventional reactors, the country is starting to make waves in a range of advanced technologies as well. Much of the focus is on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, says Lorenzo Vergari, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. These reactors use helium gas as a coolant and reach temperatures over 1,500 C, much higher than other designs. Chinas first commercial demonstration reactor of this type came online in late 2023, and a handful of larger reactors that employ the technology are currently in planning phases or under construction. Squeezing capacity It will take years, or even decades, for even the farthest-along advanced reactor projects to truly pay off with large amounts of electricity on the grid. So amid growing global electricity demand around the world, theres renewed interest in getting as much power out of existing nuclear plants as possible. One trend thats taken off in countries with relatively old nuclear fleets is license extension. While many plants built in the 20th century were originally licensed to run for 40 years, theres no reason many of them cant run for longer if theyre properly maintained and some equipment is replaced. Regulators in the US have granted 20-year extensions to much of the fleet, bringing the expected lifetime of many to 60 years. A handful of reactors have seen their licenses extended even beyond that, to 80 years. Countries including France and Spain have also recently extended licenses of operating reactors beyond their 40-year initial lifetimes. Such extensions are likely to continue, and the next few years could see more reactors in the US relicensed for up to 80-year lifetimes. In addition, theres interest in reopening shuttered plants, particularly those that have shut down recently for economic reasons. Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan is the target of one such effort, and the project secured a $1.52 billion loan from the US Department of Energy to help with the costs of reviving it. Holtec, the plants owner and operator, is aiming to have the facility back online in 2025. However, the NRC has reported possible damage to some of the equipment at the plant, specifically the steam generators. Depending on the extent of the repairs needed, the additional cost could potentially make reopening uneconomical, White says. A reactor at the former Three Mile Island Nuclear Facility is another target. The sites owner says the reactor could be running again by 2028, though battles over connecting the plant to the grid could play out in the coming year or so. Finally, the owners of the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa are reportedly considering reopening the nuclear plant, which shut down in 2020. Big Techs big appetite One of the factors driving the rising appetite for nuclear power is the stunning growth of AI, which relies on data centers requiring a huge amount of energy. Last year brought new interest from tech giants looking to nuclear as a potential solution to the AI power crunch. Microsoft had a major hand in plans to reopen the reactor at Three Mile Islandthe company signed a deal in 2024 to purchase power from the facility if its able to reopen. And thats just the beginning. Google signed a deal with Kairos Power in October 2024 that would see the startup build up to 500 megawatts worth of power plants by 2035, with Google purchasing the energy. Amazon went one step further than these deals, investing directly in X-energy, a company building small modular reactors. The money will directly fund the development, licensing, and construction of a project in Washington. Funding from big tech companies could be a major help in keeping existing reactors running and getting advanced projects off the ground, but many of these commitments so far are vague, says Good Energy Collectives Lovering. Major milestones to watch for include big financial commitments, contracts signed, and applications submitted to regulators, she says. Nuclear had an incredible 2024, probably the most exciting year for nuclear in many decades, says Staffan Qvist, a nuclear engineer and CEO of Quantified Carbon, an international consultancy focused on decarbonizing energy and industry. Deploying it at the scale required will be a big challenge, but interest is ratcheting up. As he puts it, Theres a big world out there hungry for power.

The Portuguese football federationand Portuguese Architects Association announced yesterday (13 January) that AFL working withLisbon-based Aires Mateus and Gonalves Vieira Cruz had won the competition, which was held last year.The proposed 25,000,000modernisation will see the 81-year-old venue undergo a sensitive and innovative redesign, the practices say.Facilities for football, rugby and athletics will be updated as part of the works, in addition to improving the experience for athletes, staff and visitors to the stadium.AdvertisementThe mostly outdoor sports venue was originally built between 1939 and 1944 to designs by Portuguese architect Jacobetty Rosa and is about six miles west of Lisbons historic centre.AFLs scheme will introduce a new roof to the stadium with a canopy suspended above the stands using aPratt truss structure supported by four strategically braced points.But it will retain the stadiums unique integration into the natural landscape of Vale do Jamor, a hilly area to the west of Lisbon, which the practice says is the venues defining feature.The stadium is used to host the Portuguese cup final as well as rugby games andhas been tipped for refurbishment since at least 2012. It has a capacity of roughly 39,000, though this will fall to 36,388 under AFLs proposals.There is no project timeline.AdvertisementCurrent viewProject detailsLocation Vale do Jamor, LisbonClientPortuguese Football FederationArea 91,264mConstruction Area 13,622mConstruction Cost25,000,000Capacity36,388 (subject to detailed design)PhaseFirst-place winner in the 2024 competitionArchitectsManuel Aires Mateus (Coordination), Rita Ochoa, Jos Maria Gonalves Vieira, and Toms CruzLandscape ArchitectsJoo Nunes (PROAP)EngineersRui Furtado (AFACONSULT)

Our Picks Best blender for most people Vitamix Explorian View details $300 at Amazon View details Best budget blender NutriBullet blender View details $80 at Amazon View details Best smoothie blender Ninja Twisti View details $100 at Amazon View details Best premium blender Breville Super Q View details $400 at Amazon View details Table of Contents The best blender for 2025 VitamixBlenders are indispensable kitchen companions. A good model streamlines your cooking workflow, but the wrong blender will mean wasted counter space and money down the drain. We've tested many, many options to find the ideal blender for every kitchen scenario -- from smoothie-making to hot soup-blending, as well as making almond milk and frozen desserts. If you're looking for a gift for the chef or fitness enthusiast in your life, a new blender will surely be gratefully received.Our team of experts at CNET has devoted long hours to rigorously evaluating 16 different blenders, carefully assessing their power output, blending precision, value proposition and ease of use. Through our testing, the Vitamix Explorian emerged as our standout recommendation. While premium offerings from manufacturers like Vitamix, Blendtec and Breville have their place, we understand that not everyone needs to make such an investment. For those seeking a more affordable blender, Nutribullet's $60 model is our pick in that category.After weeks of whirring, here are our picks for the best blenders in 2025. Best blenders of 2025 There's a reason Vitamix blenders enjoy a fervent following. These category darlings aren't just powerful, but a pleasure to operate and built to last years. The high cost is the downside with many models selling for $400 or more, but the entry-level Explorian will give you great value for money and lands on our list as the best overall blender for 2024.The Explorian passed every blender test we ran with flying colors and sports one of the best interfaces -- simple, intuitive and not prone to breaking. The Explorian's base and canister are sturdy, don't wobble and, as I can report from years of personal experience, the Explorian lasts years and holds its power. And if it doesn't, Vitamix blenders come with a free five-year warranty and the brand offers excellent repair programs to support your purchase.The Explorian offers basic blending functions and no fancy presets, but we don't care much for those anyhow. Its 1,500 watts is plenty of power to crush nuts into nut butter and there's no frozen fruit this machine can't pulverize in seconds. The 48-ounce canister is also set low, so it stores more easily than other models in the Vitamix line.The Vitamix is worth its normal $380 price tag, but it often goes on sale, which is exactly when you should pounce. $80 at Amazon NutriBullet keeps it simple with three power levels, a pulse setting and 1,200 watts of power. It performed well in all of our tests. Smooth batters, finely crushed ice, green smoothies, hot soup and good grated cheese (our torture test) were all easy to achieve. A reasonable price tag means you won't have to break the bank to get a good blender.Slightly more powerful than the comparable Ninja model below, NutriBullet gets the job done quickly. The 64-ounce blending jar is plenty big enough for most recipes. The personal blender comes with a handy recipe book and a tamper to make sure all your ingredients contact the blades. The NutriBullet blender jar is also dishwasher safe and comes with a one-year warranty.Simple, powerful and consistent, the NutriBullet is one of the best moderately priced blenders on the market right now and you can have it for about $80 at Amazon right now.

Pokmon TCG Pocket players spot iconic Game Boy game locations in artworkKeen eye.Image credit: The Pokmon Company News by Ed Nightingale Deputy News Editor Published on Jan. 14, 2025 Pokmon TCG Pocket players have spotted references to the Game Boy games in the background of many cards.The digital card game launched with unique immersive cards to take players inside the artwork, but it's the more basic cards that have caught the attention of fans.Over on reddit, user asch_win has used card artwork to spot the exact location of the characters. For instance, the Spearow card has buildings and trees in the background that are likely part of Pokmon Fire Red / Leaf Green's Celadon City, outside of which Spearow can be caught.Pokmon TCG Pocket | Gameplay TrailerWatch on YouTubeAnother reddit user, jteede, has also identified specific game locations in card artwork. Shiny Diglett's card is outside a cave near Vermillion City; Haunter is between the notoriously haunted Lavender Town Pokmon Center and Pokmon Tower; and Doduo is along the Route 17 eastern bike path, to name three.The location of image! byu/asch_win inPTCGPTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.Further, asch_win has located each of the Trainer cards too, from Professor Oak in his research lab, to the likes of Misty and Lt. Surge in their respective Pokmon Gyms.Let's visit our beloved Supporters! byu/asch_win inPTCGPTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.So while some cards feature standalone artwork, fans are having plenty of fun spotting references throughout the collection.Have you spotted any other iconic locations?The Mythical Island set was added back in December, headlined by Mew.It's unclear when the next set will be released, however, while trading remains 'coming soon'.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Grand Theft Auto 6 is arguably the most anticipated game of all time, let alone just 2025. Its been over ten years since we were treated to the release of a new installment in the beloved Rockstar series, but we should be returning to the wondrous landscape of Vice City soon. Here you will find the GTA 6 release date window, along with a guide to everything you need to know about delay fears, price rumors, pre-order projections, map leaks, and more. GTA 6 release date window The release date window for GTA 6 is Fall 2025. Although Rockstar has yet to announce a launch day, Fall suggests it is planned to come out sometime in September to November. It will release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles. There has been some concern about how the game will perform on the Series S due to the consoles limitations, but Take-Two Interactive has assured fans that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be really great on all platforms. While there is hope that it will come out on consoles within the next 12-months, the unfortunate news is that the same cannot be said for PC. The Take-Two CEO has explained why it is not launching day one on PC, and its because Rockstar has an approach to platforms weve seen before. Image credit: Rockstar GamesGTA 6 release date delay fears There are concerns that the GTA 6 release date will be delayed out of 2025 into 2026. There are no rumors or leaks that suggest a postponement is inevitable, but its a prediction amongst many in the video games industry, including Jason Schreier of Bloomberg. An ex-Rockstar dev has said the team wont be able to make the call of a delay until May, so we will have to wait and see if a delay happens or not. Rumors of a delay have been debunked in the past, but, until the game actually releases and becomes playable, delays are always possible. Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-order projections Whether Grand Theft Auto 6 is delayed or not, fans will most likely be able to pre-order the game sometime in 2025. There are no rumors or leaks regarding any pre-order bonuses or different editions, but there are some insane pre-order projections. Per analysts at DFC Intelligence, the game is projected to make $3.2 billion in its first year alone, with over $1 billion expected to be couped in pre-order sales before the game even releases. These projections also take into account that the game will only be launching initially on PS5 and Xbox, so it will make even more in the years to come, especially when it eventually gets added to PC. Grand Theft Auto 6 price rumors There are concerns that GTA 6 will increase the price of other video games when it comes out. This is because Rockstar are predicted to sell even the Standard edition at an elevated price. Take-Two have done this in the past as they increased the price of their games to $70 back in 2023, and this resulted in the likes of Sony, Nintendo, and Ubisoft following in their footsteps. Anticipating the day of another price increase for video games, Larian Studios director of publishing, cromwelp on X, said, Everyones just waiting for GTA6 to do it. While its possible the Standard edition of Grand Theft Auto 6 could cost $70-$80, other predictions such as costing $100+ seem outlandish. Image credit: @cromwelp on XMap leaks There was infamous gameplay leaks back in 2022, and these provided details about how the map will work. Its official that we are returning to Vice City, and fans can expect a stunning open-world that truly looks beautiful and feels alive. Grand Theft Auto 6 YouTuber Dyllie compiled a list of map events from the leaked gameplay, and they include the following: Abandoned Hovercraft Backyard wrestling ring Bait and Tackle shopBasketball court (basketball returning)Big Cat mansion Bonnie and Clyde mystery (multiple locations)Cars strip mallDairy farm Drug house drug deal Drug lab (trailer park, trailer small, apartment, lockup)DUI testEasy score (Bingo, Cash N Carry, cafe, body shop, clothing store)Fishing (multiple locations)Island camp Kidnapping victim Lean sizzurp labMusic video Museum Salon patron Satanist houseScarface crime scene Self injury (multiple locations)Sniper nest Sniper victim apartment Swam safari crazy golfUFO animal house Voice in a storm drain (Pennywise reference)Warehouse sex robots Warehouse torture Workout challenge (working out confirmed)Yard sale (multiple locations)All of the above are just random events and activities leaked for the map, but there are expected to be so many more. Trailers So far we have only received one trailer for GTA 6, and its been over a year since the reveal trailer come out. No one knows when trailer 2 is will drop, and fans were devastated when it didnt come out in December 2024 as the grand conspiracies suggested. Trailer 1 was fantastic as it reintroduced the Vice City setting, while establishing the games playable duo, Jason and Lucia. Its expected that trailer 2 will be accompanied by a release date and the ability to pre-order, but we will just have to wait and see. For more Grand Theft Auto 6, Take-Two has told players not to review bomb the game. Grand Theft Auto 6Platform(s):PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Action AdventureRelated TopicsGTA 6 Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

"Blender Scripts from ChatGPT Often Fail If You're Not a Coder This Blender Add-on Changes That!" By toapyandfriends on January 14, 2025 Development Create your own Blender add-ons using AI. This add-on by Jesse C Morris uses many data sources like the Blender Manual and Stack Exchange to help you build a stable solution. Introducing the Ultimate Script Generator for Blender 4.3... The latest addition to the 'FAST Animation Studio Tools' Blender add-on... Which BTW is the BIGGEST Blender add-on IN THE WORLD!!!(code-wise)!!!...Introduction:Our cutting-edge script generator harnesses the power of ChatGPT, using the exact same well tested A.I. model (GPT-4o is the name) available with the ChatGPT Pro subscription on the ChatGPT website, to create scripts from your detailed user commands. If a generated script encounters an error, our system automatically tests it and, if necessary, sends it back to the GPT-4o model for revision. This iterative process, which defaults to five iterations, works in a loop: it reads your user command, generates a script, tests it for errors, looks up the Blender API, Blender Manual, even Blender Stack Exchange!! It also retrieves code examples from our comprehensive add-on, and any other add-on you tell it to retrieve code examples from, and then sends it back to the OpenAI model for revision.Notable features include: OpenAI-powered script generation for automation. Automatic error testing and revision. Boost User Command feature upgrades your command to be Blender Manual-compatible. Verified compatibility with Blender 4.3 only (but will convert scripts to Blender 4.3!) Automatically locates example scripts from our database based on errors. Easily updates older scripts to the latest Blender version. One-click error fixing in the text editor. Allows you to provide your own code examples. Can find/pull (and fix as necc.) code examples from Stack Exchange. Can find/pull (and fix as necc.) code examples from Blender Stack Exchange. Optimized functionality for creating animation scripts. Optimized functionality for creating small/medium shader/compositor/geo-node setups. World class customer support. Any issue will likely get fixed the same day. Learn more on fast-blender-add-ons.com.Deep Dive:And one final caveat thats also a bonus: in some cases, our system may encounter an error it cant automatically resolve. When this happens, weve made it so simple that anyone can resolve these errors themselves, in 5-10 min., even non-programmers, using our easy-to-follow instruction set system thats so straightforward even kids* can create working scripts for Blender. (It even does a Hail Mary fix attempt when these issues arise allowing that you might not even have to step in.)This is a major bonus as programming has been around for decades and nowhere else, as to our research, can non programmers guarantee error free code!*(Kids 6th grade and higher as there is some required reading of techy stuff.)

Gustavo TurnerJul 11, 2024 3:55 PM PDTWASHINGTON This years National Conservatism Conference in Washington hosted a Big Tech and Big Porn panel earlier this week, during which a spokesperson for the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center confirmed that the age verification laws currently being promoted around the country by religious conservatives are merely a step toward the ultimate goal of a total ban of porn.The event was covered by Sarah Jones, senior writer for New York magazines Intelligencer news site, who reported that the fourth installment of the conference was marked by an explicit obsession with white Christian fertility, which consumes the speakers and animates the crowd perhaps more than any other subject.The Big Tech and Big Porn panel was chaired by Megan Basham of the Ben Shapiro-aligned Daily Wire news site. Speakers included Clare Morell of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Michigan State University law professor Adam Candeub and Emily Jashinsky, a commentator for the Federalist conservative news site.During the question-and-answer period, a male college student wanted to know why they shouldnt try to ban pornography for everyone and not just children, Jones reported. Morell said that first pursuing porn bans for minors is more feasible and builds momentum for furthering things down the road.The influential Ethics and Public Policy Center is linked to Federalist Society architect and Republican judiciary power broker Leonard Leo, who sits on its board. The center is led by J. Robinson Hays III, a Texas finance and hospitality millionaire and bills itself as Washington, D.C.s premier institute working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics, in pursuit of Americas continued civic and cultural renewal.During the panel, Michigan law professor Candeub shared his notion that American conservatives should avoid porn altogether.Bad men, bad male libido, Candeub told the crowd, raising his voice, according to Jones.Candeub is a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a Trumpist think tank founded in 2021 by former staffers of the presumptive Republican nominee. His scholarly interests include the law and regulation of communications, internet and technology. He has no reported background on male human sexuality studies, or on theories of different types of human libido.A Conference Haunted by the Specter of Project 2025The National Conservatism Conferences predominantly male audience listened to panelists and speakers, many with ties to the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, which has been in the news recently due to its leadership of Project 2025, a controversial initiative to remake the U.S. government and American society along hard-right, Christian Nationalist lines in the event of a Donald Trump victory in November.As XBIZ reported,Project 2025 proposes the re-criminalization of all porn production and distribution, and considers most LGBTQ+ content of any kind to be pornographic.Last week, after mainstream commentators highlighted the most inflammatory proposals of Project 2025, Trump sought to distance his campaign from the platform and its extreme Christian Nationalist wish list.Pornography, Project 2025 decrees, has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.Heritage Foundation figurehead Paul Dans extolled the virtues of Project 2025 at the conference.During another presentation, the Heritage Foundations Chris DeMuth told the crowd that faith, family and fertility are the new mainstream, and railed against feminized culture.Other panelists presented ideas coherent with the notion, increasingly influential among American conservative movement ideologues, that there should be a campaign to end all recreational sex.Jones quoted prominent National Conservative Conference speaker Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Convention by stating that heterosexual sex cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party.A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants, Mohler theorized in his treatise Fidelity: What It Means to Be a One-Woman Man.A woman, he added, receives, surrenders, accepts.Main Image: Pro-censorship activist Clare Morell of the Ethics and Public Policy CenterRelated:Copyright 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

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Face OffNo, you're not seeing things, Alien: Romulus' Ian Holm CGI does look different in the home release, but it's still an ethical (and visual) nightmareThe film's director, on the other hand, says "it's so much better."Image credit: 20th Century Pictures News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 14, 2025 One of the biggest critiques Alien: Romulus faced upon release was the really bad Ian Holm CGI, but the home release appears to have tweaked it.I'm really not very fond of the trend we've had over the past decade of including actors in sequels to classic films through the use of CGI because they've died in intervening years. It pretty much always looks bad and veers right into the uncanny valley, and that was no different in last year's Alien: Romulus, which featured Ian Holm as a new android, Rook, based on his character Ash, an android in the original 1979 Alien. Fans took an immediate dislike to it not just because of how bad the effects were, but also because it just felt wrong to bring an actor back like that. As it turns out, though, the effects have been updated for the home release, with director Fede Alvarez speaking about them to Empire.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "We just ran out of time in post-production to get it right," Alvarez explained in the interview, continuing on to say he "wasnt 100 per cent happy with some of the shots, where you could feel a bit more the CG intervention. So, for people that react negatively, I dont blame them." The director noted that "we fixed it" for the home release, saying that "we made it better for the release right now. I convinced the studio we need to spend the money and make sure we give the companies that were involved in making it the proper time to finish it and do it right. Its so much better."Apparently there was actually an animatronic made of Holm's head based on a cast of him from Lord of the Rings, with Alvarez saying that for the home release they reverted "a lot more to the puppet. Its way better." Alien Romulus - Rook CGI Updates BluRay vs Digital byu/Davidedby inLV426To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Personally, though, I'm not so sure. Comparisons of the blu-ray release and the Prime Video release (which appears to be the original cinema release) shared on Reddit show the changes between the two, some of which are minor, a lot of which casts his face in more shadow. Mostly it's still quite uncanny, and to be honest just wrong to bring the actor back this way. Let's stop that one now shall we Hollywood?

A decade of Mr Olney.Sure, 2025 might be home to some pretty big gaming anniversaries, but you want to know the biggest of them all? This week marks 10 years since the wonderful Mr Alex Olney published his first video on the Nintendo Life YouTube channel. That's right, it has been a decade of "Heeeeello there lovely peeeople".To mark the occasion, Alex has released a big old thank-you video on the channel, shouting out a whole bunch of people who have helped him over the past 10 years, and sharing a sizzle reel of some of the decade's biggest moments. If you needed a reminder of what Mr Olney looked like sans beard, this is your chance.Read the full article on nintendolife.com